Jamaica declared ‘disaster area’ in wake of Hurricane Melissa

After ravaging Jamaica most of Tuesday, Hurricane Melissa made its second landfall Wednesday in Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane. The National Hurricane Center said Melissa came ashore in Santiago de Cuba with 120 mph winds, marking the strongest storm to make landfall in Cuba since Hurricane Irma in 2017. It was expected to bring up to 20 inches of flooding rain, high winds and up to 12 feet of storm surge.

The death and damage toll in Jamaica remains uncertain but reports in the Miami Herald are that 77% of the island is without power and some coastal communities near the landfall spot have been reduced to rubble. Video posted by Jamaica’s Constabulary Force in Black River, near where the eye came ashore, show snarled and downed power lines, piles of debris and many buildings completely collapsed — all on a street still covered in water.

Other clips show a shredded ceiling and water pouring into the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, the popular tourism destination and where the eye re-emerged over the Caribbean.

At a press conference, Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government in Jamaica, reported that multiple hospitals had damaged roofs, were without power and hit by storm surge. Video posted on social media showed Hurricane Melissa’s winds peeling the roof off one hospital building near the eye wall and sending it flying.

At one hospital, 75 patients had to be evacuated. “Blocked roads right across the country,” he said. “Almost every parish is experiencing blocked roads, galled trees, utility poles and excess offing in many communities.” He said St. Elizabeth Parish — the island’s most important agricultural area — was “underwater.” Melissa was down to 105 mph maximum sustained winds, a Category 2, and was moving over Cuba at 14 mph. That’s a great deal faster than the 5 mph pace Melissa approached Jamaica or the 8 mph pace it crossed the island.

Hurricane Melissa still has at least one landfall ahead of it in the Bahamas Wednesday evening.